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Monday, 17 August 2015

On Monday, Boko Haram extremists raided a village in Borno state near
the border with Niger, killing 7 people, community leaders said. Dozens
of gunmen stormed Awonori, a farming and herding village near the
fishing town of Damasak, and carted away food supplies and livestock,
they said.

“They killed seven people, looted grains and took away all the
livestocks in the village before fleeing into the bush,” Muhammadu Modu
Wan-Wan, head of the Damasak fishermen’s union.

“The gunmen who came in vans and on motorcycles around 7:00 am (0600
GMT) besieged the village and opened fire on residents as they were
having breakfast before moving to their farms,” he said.

Wan-Wan said the attack forced the villagers to flee but they returned
after the assailants had left. Abubakar Gamandi, the head of Borno’s
fishermen’s union, confirmed the attack.

“I received report from my members in the Damasak area that Boko Haram
gunmen attacked Awonori village this morning where they killed seven
people and took away food and livestocks,” he said.

Last month, residents of Damasak and surrounding villages fled their
homes and crossed the border into the Niger town of Diffa, fearing Boko
Haram attacks. But Wan-Wan said many residents have returned to their
farms since then.
“People have no food to feed their families which is why they take the
risk of going back to their villages to work on their farms now that the
rainy season has started,” he said.

Boko Haram, which is seeking to carve out a hardline Islamic state in
northeast Nigeria, has killed some 15,000 people since 2009. A regional
8,700-strong force aimed at ending the insurgency is due to deploy
within days.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday told a national security
gathering in Abuja that his government would “employ at least an extra
10,000 police officers and establish a properly trained and equipped
federal anti-terrorism multi-agency task force” to crush the rebellion.